ANKARA, June 26. /TASS/. Turkey is negotiating with its partners on a potential return to the fifth-generation F-35 fighter program, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters upon his return from The Hague, where the NATO summit was held.
"We have not given up on the F-35 jets. We are discussing our intentions to return to the project with our interlocutors. The F-35 program is as much a political process as it is a technical one. Turkey was unfairly excluded from the program. We have always criticized this move, which is incompatible with the spirit of the alliance," the Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan as saying.
The Turkish leader also noted that he "discussed this issue at meetings with US President Donald Trump." "Negotiations at the technical level have begun. I hope we will make progress," he said.